Teresa Coutinho

The spectator sits in the performance hall. The spectator sits in the cinema. The spectator wishes to have a fable unfolded for him. The spectator wishes the goals and anguishes of the characters to mirror his own, to have doubts, to feel empathy, to reach the highly celebrated “catharsis”. How many of us, watching Hamlet struggling with the anguish of the appearance of his father’s ghost, were not afflicted by some sort of sorrow, did not empathise with his quick temper and restlessness? How many of us did not wish to draw up risky plans that would save the world like James Bond, or despaired waiting for Godot like Estragon and Vladimir? So many of us. What if you were a girl sitting in the dark of a cinema or a theatre for years on end? What notion of femininity did that mirror return to you? What imagery was built until you came of age? What was being said to you all this time anyway? — Teresa Coutinho


Teresa Coutinho was born in 1988. She is an actress, creator and playwright. She attended the École des Maitres in 2016, an edition mentored by Christiane Jatahy. She created Solo (2021), Distante [Distant], by Caryl Churchill (2021), O Eterno Debate [The Eternal Debate] (2020), the radio performance A Leveza das Coisas [The Lightness of Things] (2020) and Ways of Looking (2017), among others. As an actress, she worked with Christiane Jatahy, Rogério de Carvalho, Ricardo Neves-Neves, Raquel Castro, Maria João Luís, Maria Duarte, Os Possessos and SillySeason, among others. She was assistant director to Gus Van Sant, Tiago Rodrigues, Faustin Linyekula, Natália Luiza and Beatriz Batarda. She coordinates the Living Poets Society at Teatro Nacional D. Maria II.